Victim
by sototallyrandom
Summary: If Jo's encounter with Vikram had gone a little differently and Danny had showed up a few seconds later.
1. Chapter 1

**If Jo's encounter with Vikram had gone a little differently and Danny had showed up a few seconds later. I'm just playing around, so if you want me to continue you have to let me know.**

**I do not own Twisted or any of its characters.**

_Thwack!_ Danny falls to the ground and my immediate instinct is to rush over to him, but Vikram, Danny's deranged father, lunges towards me. His fingers barely miss wrapping around my sleeve and I dart off into the woods, hoping that Danny is alright.

"Give me that phone!" Vikram shouts right behind me. I turn left, right, anything to lose him, but his footsteps remain behind mine. the leaves and sticks crunch underneath my feet as I run, giving away my location. My face strings as stray branches whip across my face and I almost trip at least a dozen times on large rocks and roots. When I think he's gone, I slow down and listen carefully. Bushes rustle nearby. _Nope._ I continue to run, picking a random direction.

I skid to a stop, mere inches from running straight off the side of a cliff. I turn around to find a new route, but Vikram is already towering above me.

"Little bitch." He says before grabbing me and pushing me towards the edge. I scream for help, but no one is around for miles. I resist and pull backward, but Vikram is just too strong. To avoid being thrown over the edge, I grab Vikram in what can only be described as a hug and hang on for dear life. He grunts and tries to separate us with no such luck. I finally let loose when he throws his fist into my ribs and knocks the wind out of me.

Vikram's hands wrap around my throat and I frantically claw at his fingers, begging for one more breath. He pushes me back to the very edge of the cliff and I suddenly realize, _I am going to die._ My feet lose contact with the ground as I dangle in space for a fraction of a second.

"Jo!" Danny yells just before he hits his father in the back with a branch. A surprised Vikram releases me and I don't even have the breath to scream. I manage to grab onto the edge of the cliff, but most of my torso and my legs are dangling off the edge uselessly.

"Jo, hang in there!" Danny shouts, not even realizing the pun. He and his father are in a fistfight, battling for possession of my life. I try to pull myself up, but I have the body strength of a hamster and instead focus on not falling and definitely not looking down. I kick my feet against the smooth surface of the rocks in front of me, trying to help myself stay up. The loose dirt and leaves beneath my fingertips shift and I lose a few more inches, the only things above the edge my shoulders and up. Danny hits Vikram in the face, Vikram throws Danny to the ground, Danny gets up and slams into Vikram, I can't even tell what's happened after a few seconds, all I know is that they're moving closer and closer to me. Vikram turns his head and smirks at me before moving his foot back and stomping on my right hand.

"No!" Danny screams as I cry out in pain. I slip and I'm only holding onto the cliff by the fingertips on my left hand, unable to do anything with my other hand, which is mangle and an ugly shade of purple.

Danny finally gives his father a smashing blow to the head, causing him to fall unconscious on the ground a few feet away from the cliff edge. My whole body is quivering as I can feel my fingers giving away because of my weight.

"Danny!" I cry out. Just as Danny dives to his knees my fingers slip and I scream and close my eyes. Danny's fingers close around my wrist and I feel my decent jerk to a stop. I look up with tears in my eyes and Danny is struggling to hold me up, much less pull me up. He doesn't have a good hold on my wrist, and I struggle to grab his back.

"Danny." I whimper, feeling myself slip.

"Just hold on Jo." Danny begs. He reaches down with his other hand and places it next to his other one. He leans backwards and heaves me upwards a foot and readjusts his position so he can pull me up another. Finally, with one last pull, my head reaches the same level as the cliff edge and Danny moves one of his arms under my right arm and pulls me the rest of the way onto the platform. I collapse and just press my cheek against the Earth, just glad that it's there.

"Jo, are you ok?!" Danny asks. He pulls me into a hug and I just sit there, stunned, staring at where Vikram's body was a minute ago. I start sobbing and Danny pulls his phone out of his pocket, clearly unaware that his father could be hiding in a bush nearby.

"Lacey, you need to get here NOW." Danny says into his phone. He gives directions to the old church and hangs up before Lacey can ask any questions.

"D- Dan- Danny, he's g- gone." I stutter, pointing with my left hand. Danny's eyes widen, but he looks back to me immediately.

"Don't worry about that right now, I'm going to get you help." He tells me. He slides one arm under my knees and one under my back and lifts me into the air, beginning the walk back to the church. I lean my head against Danny's shoulder and my tears soak into his T-shirt. I almost got murdered tonight.

"Oh my god Jo!" Lacey exclaims as Danny lays me down on my back on one of the old pews. I'm in too much shock and I don't have enough energy to sit or stand yet.

"What happened?!" Lacey asks as she kneels next to me.

"Vikram tried to kill her." Danny says, running his hand over the top of his head to put strands of hair back in place.

"Oh my god." Lacey says. She reaches for my hand, but I hiss in pain and she looks down at it.

"We just need to get out of here before he comes back." Danny says in concern.

"Of course." Lacey says. Danny picks me up again and carries me behind Lacey, who leads us to her car. Danny gets in the back with me and Lacey gets up front, starting the car and speeding away from the area with record time.

"I think I'm ok." I finally breathe as we drive along a quiet road back to my house.

"We should probably take you to a hospital." Lacey says, motioning towards the hand I have cradled in my lap.

"No, it's fine, I'll wrap it up, I really just want to go home." I tell them.

"Let me see." Danny asks, holding out his hand. I clutch my injured hand close because I'm sure they'll take me to the hospital if it looks anywhere near as bad as it feels.

"Alright, here we are." Lacey says, putting the car in park in my driveway. I open the door and hop out. Both Lacey and Danny start to get out to, but I stop them.

"I really just want to be alone right now." I tell them.

"You shouldn't be alone right now." Danny says as I walk up to my front door. They both look hurt as I walk into the house and lock the door behind me.

Vikram's POV

She knows that it was me who killed Tara and Regina, and she knows how I framed Danny. She can't know, no one can know. There's only one way to make someone un-know something. To kill them. I guess I know my next victim. Jo Masterson.

**Let me know if you want me to continue.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I got one follower and one person telling me to not write this story at all, so I'll just write this story for myself. If you want any updates faster than my random just-for-fun speed you're going to have to let me know.**

"Johanna Marie!" My mom stops me on my way up the stairs. I quickly tuck my hand into my pocket.

"Where have you been?" My mother asks in half anger half concern.

"I was out for a walk and lost track of time, sorry Mom." I tell her.

"Alright, just be careful. Have you seen Danny since he was in your room? The police haven't found him yet." My mom asks.

"No, Mom, I haven't." I tell her. Ever since Danny got back I've become quite good at lying, especially to my parents.

"What happened to the hat you were wearing?" She asks.

"What hat? I wasn't wearing a hat." I lie again. _It probably plummeted 200 feet down that cliff like I was about to._

"Oh. Huh." She says. "Well, goodnight sweetie." She tells me.

"Alright, night mom." I say as I make my way up the stairs.

As soon as I get to my room I dig one of my many scarves out of a drawer and wrap it around the offending hand as gently as I can, but it still hurts like hell.

I move over to the mirror in my room and slowly lift up my shirt until I see the baseball-sized bruise on the right side of my ribs. I pull my shirt back down and walk over to the bathroom to wash the dirt off of my arms.

As the dirty water swirls around the drain my eyes cloud up with tears. I was really scared, I legitimately thought I was going to die at that cliff. I swipe at my tears and climb into bed, hiding under the covers and sobbing.

_I'm falling faster and faster, and the world continues to grow larger underneath me. Air rushes against me and my hair whips me in the face. Danny is screaming my name, and I'm just screaming. Screaming and falling. With a thump I land_ on my bed and bolt into an upright position, still screaming. My parents rush into my room and sit on the edge of my bed. A thick sheen of sweat covers my forehead and back.

"Just a nightmare." I assure them.

"Thank god, I thought Danny came in here again." My father says, cuing an eye roll from me.

"Or maybe that Vikram guy, he's alive and maybe involved." He says. I freeze up. My mom glares at Dad like he's just done something wrong. I used to get that look all the time when I was little. The one that tells you you're doing something wrong, but then she makes you figure out what you did on your own.

"I'm ok, I promise." I say, keeping my right hand underneath my covers.

"Alright, get some sleep." Mom tells me. They each kiss me on the forehead before exiting the room.

When I wake up and it's morning, I'm relieved. I didn't have another nightmare. I remember that I'm meeting Rico today and it causes me to remember that I still have a normal life to get back to. I get up and walk over to my dresser to replace the clothes I fell asleep in last night. I leave the scarf on my hand though. As I take the scarf off that I was wearing around my neck I sense a slight soreness. I reach up and touch it, but then it actually hurts. I move over to the mirror and gasp at the bruises around my throat that developed overnight. I put the scarf back on.

* * *

"Hey Rico." I greet him as I plop down in the seat across from him in our booth and push my backpack beside me.

"Hey." He says, already drowning in his books. I pull out mine and open to the same page as him.

"Jo, what's that? On your neck?" He asks. My heart freezes and I pull the scarf over the offending area.

"Nothing, I just got some paint on it the other night while I was painting." I tell him.

"That didn't look like paint." He says.

"Well it is, so can we just study?"

"Fine, but why are you so mad?" He questions.

"I'm not mad!" I say angrily. _oh. _

"I'm just upset that we don't know where Danny is." I lie. I already know where he is, probably at Lacey's. He wouldn't be at the church, Vikram knows where it is now.

"Of course you are." Rico says, annoyed. He slams his books shut and starts packing up.

"Let me know when you're ready to not be obsessed with Danny." He tells me before walking away. _What the hell did I do?_

_"_Jo is that you?" Lacey's familiar voice calls from the entrance of the diner.

"Yup." I twist in my seat to face her and regret it when my ribs protest and ache. Lacey slides into the seat Rico was in a minute ago.

"How are you holding up?" She asks.

"I'm fine." I say as convincingly as I can. I don't want them worrying about me when Danny is the one running from the police.

"I got some info out of Phoebe and I think it helped the police find Regina's real killer. They're after her." She tells me.

"Really, Danny's off the hook?" I ask with joy and hope.

"Yeah, he's all clear. They have proof that one of the detectives after Danny did it." She says. She holds out her hand for a high five and I almost use my right hand before switches and slapping her palm with my left.

"Is your hand alright?" She asks.

"Just a little sore." I say.

"Let me see." She asks. I slowly slide my hand across the table towards Lacey and withdraw it quickly when she almost has it unwrapped.

"You know what, it's gotten better, I'm just going to see Danny." I tell her. She gives me a suspicious look before motioning for me to sit back down.

"He's on his way here, leaving won't get you to him any faster." She says. "Now let me see it." Lacey's convincing voice finally gets me to give her my hand. She gently unwraps it, but it still hurts badly.

"Jo, your hand is _broken_!" She whispers, not wanting everyone around to listen in. "I knew I should have taken you to the hospital last night." She curses herself.

"Come on, I'm taking you to the hospital right now before this gets any worse." She orders, reaching over and grabbing my backpack, knowing I'd follow her just to get it back.

"What about Danny?" I ask.

"I'll text him."

* * *

I walk out of the hospital with a black cast around my hand. Lacey wanted me to get something more colorful, but I chose black anyway. It won't attract attention.

"Nice excuse, that a car door slammed on your hand." Lacey says.

"Yeah, it's what I have to tell my parents too." I tell her.

"Maybe I'll tell them Danny accidentally did it." I joke. She gives a small laugh as we get into the car.

"Hey guys." Danny says from the back.

"Oh my god you scared me!" I shout at him, slapping him on the knee.

"You left your car unlocked." He tells Lacey, still smiling at me.

"I noticed." She mutters.

"We should all go hang out at the diner and celebrate now that everything is over." Lacey says.

"I hate to burst your bubble Lacey, but we don't know if Vikram still wants something from Danny." The care becomes silent with truth as I say this.

"Jo's right, we should tread lightly and be ready for anything." Danny says.

"Of course _Jo_ is right." Lacey says. I'm sensing some kind of negative emotion, but I can't figure out what.

"So are we all going back to school tomorrow?" Lacey asks, staring at Danny.

"I am." I slightly raise my hand as if to say _I'm here, too._

"I don't know, maybe I should wait a few days until everything dies down." Danny decides.

"If that's what you want." I tell him. Lacey glares at me like she wanted me to try and convince him to come to school.

* * *

I finally get to my driveway after walking home from a long day at school. Everyone kept staring and asking questions, not only about Danny but about my broken hand, and I always repeat the exact same words. _My hand got slammed in a car door._ I don't give any details because if I did every time I told someone I'd be telling them different details and eventually someone would figure it out. So that's what I told my parents when the freaked out. I didn't give them any details either, but I've got to give them an A for effort.

I unlock the door with my key and shove it deep into my pocket before opening the door and stepping inside. When I turn to close the door, I freeze in place, pressed up against the door, because I feel something around my neck.


	3. Chapter 3

"You're never going to get away with this." I growl, even before I turn around.

"Oh, but I will." Vikram whispers into my ear.

"I'm sorry, I really did like you." He says evilly. "But you know too much." At this instant the object tightens against my neck and I move backwards away from it until I'm pressed up against Vikram's body.

"Did Danny tell his other little friend?" He asks, stretching the red jump rope taut across my throat. Determined not to let anything slip, I resist crying and respond.

"No. Only me, he told me the night at the church." I say very convincingly.

"Don't you think this is a little ironic?" Vikram cackles, obviously meaning the red jump rope, as he tightens it.

"Danny will never forgive you." My voice cracks under the pressure on my throat.

"Oh, I know." He sighs. We all know who the real sociopath is.

"Goodbye, Johanna." He whispers in my ear. Vikram yanks backward on the rope, wraps it around my neck, and continues to tighten it, cutting off the access of air to my lungs.

I remember hearing once that when a wild animal is after you to play dead.

I struggle, kicking and thrashing, clawing and scratching, all while gagging on nothing. Blood drips from my nose from the pressure, and I feel my face flushing wit heat. To make it believable I wait a good few seconds before going limp.

I remember the days when Lacey, Danny, and I would go swimming, we would all dive under the water and see who could stay down there the longest. I always won, only going back to the surface way after the other two had pushed their feet against the bottom of the pool to get to the top.

I also use the skill of the staring contests I always had with Lacey. Danny sucked at it, he'd blink after only three seconds. Lacey and I went on for what seemed like forever, until our eyes dried up. I'd still always won though.

So I collapse to the floor, hold my breath, and stare at the ceiling. Vikram chuckles and drops the rope and I, circling us a few times before kneeling down. He stares right into my face, and for a brief moment I believe my heart stopped, because it looked like he knew. I can't hold my breath for any longer, but he's still kneeling next to me. Black dots spot my vision and I force myself not to take a breath, even though it feels like my lungs are collapsing. I don't think I'd be able to breathe even if I let myself, the rope is still tangled around my throat.

I hear a bang and some background noise, but I have to concentrate on holding my breath. I let myself drift into unconsciousness because I know Vikram will leave soon and when I wake up I'll be alone in the house, successfully presumed dead.

Lacey's POV

Danny and I sit in his room at the foot of his bed sharing a bag of chips and chatting like the first night we reconnected. As horrible as it sounds, this is how I feel it should be. Just Danny and I, no Jo. I feel like Jo is always following Danny around like a needy puppy. I mean he is her only friend besides Rico, she really needs to branch out a little bit.

"I can't believe it's all over." I sigh as I lean into Danny. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and passes me the bag of chips.

"I don't believe it." Danny says.

"Come on, do you seriously think Vikram will try to get something from you? He wouldn't come after you when you're in such a spotlight, he wants to stay missing." I point out.

"I guess you're right." He says, making a grab at the chip bag.

"uh-uh, you already ate like the whole bag!" I slap at his hand playfully and shake the bag, which has nothing left but crumbs.

"I play sports, I eat a lot more." He laughs.

"You eat like a horse." I joke.

"I still feel like something's off." Danny says.

"What?" I ask, the seriousness in the room like an elephant.

"Jo." He says simply.

"You've got to be kidding me." I say angrily, pulling out of his arms and standing in front of him.

"It's always been her, hasn't it?" I ask.

"No, that's not what I'm talking about!" Danny says, grabbing my hands in his.

"I think she's in danger." He says, staring me in the eyes. I can't resist those eyes. I look away.

"You think she's in danger every three seconds." I snap.

"No, you don't know what I mean! In anger I told my dad that Jo knew he framed me." Danny says stressfully, running his hands through his hair.

"You did WHAT?!" I ask him.

"We need to go check on her, she's home alone tonight." He says, throwing me my jacket.

"Alright, let's hurry." I pull my hair from my jacket and grab my car keys off his night stand.

Danny's POV

When Lacey parks in Jo's driveway, everything appears normal. I give Lacey a concerned glance and she gets out of her car.

"Jo?" I call out, frantically knocking on her door.

"Jo, open up, it's serious!" Lacey raps on the frame. I look around and fear bites at my heart when some curtains are blowing around outside an open window.

"Stay here!" I urge Lacey, already knowing she's not going to listen to me. I crawl through the window and creep into the living room. When I see my father's back, I shout.

"I'm calling 911, get out of here!" And my dad bolts. Lacey finally gets through the window as I rush into the room my father was in.

"Jo!" Lacey cries. Jo is lying on the floor, eyes frozen open and staring at the ceiling. My eyes can't help but drift to the red jump rope tangled around her neck.

"No!" I cry out, kneeling beside her and trying to unwind the rope. When I look back at Jo's face, her eyes are closed. Her face is a reddish purple color from lack of air, and a small dribble of blood has run down her face from her nose.

"I can't get it off!" I say, tears blurring my vision. Lacey carefully lifts Jo's head with one hand and calls 911 with the other. When I finally slide the rope from around Jo's neck, I angrily throw it across the room where it hits the wall with a bang.

"Jo, open your eyes, it's us now, you can stop pretending." I say frantically.

"Jo?" I croak. Lacey is good in a crisis, and she reaches over to check Jo's pulse. Her two fingers linger on Jo's neck a few seconds too long and my heart falls. Tears are running down Lacey's cheeks as her fingers just rest there.

"She's dead, isn't she?" I ask.

"I'm sorry Danny-" She says, and the tears keep on coming. The police sirens can finally be heard out front.

"Wait! Danny I felt something!" Lacey says hopefully as the police knock down the front door.

"Jo? Johanna Masterson wake up right now!" I cry, cradling her head in my lap.

"Put your hands in the air!" The police shout. At the front of the pack is Jo's dad, staring in horror.

Lacey's POV

Everything only goes downhill. An ambulance attaches a thousand machines to Jo and carts her out of the house on a stretcher.

Mr. Masterson roughly locks the handcuffs around Danny's hands with tears on his cheeks and an angry fire in his eyes.

"Danny didn't do this!" I scream at him.

"Save it for the court!" He tells me, leading Danny to a squad car. Danny stares at me apologetically over his shoulder. So I stand there in the living room alone. The living room Jo was strangled in while I thought badly of her, the room Danny was arrested in for her attempted murder.

What makes me feel even guiltier is that the biggest reason I'm glad Jo is alive is so that she can testify in court. I can't help it, I wasn't that close with her. I feel like all of this is somehow my fault. If I hadn't been bitching at Danny for worrying about Jo, maybe we would have gotten here a minute sooner and she wouldn't be in an ambulance and he wouldn't be in a squad car. If we had gotten here earlier Danny could have stopped Vikram and the police would have caught him.

But then I realize something. This is all Vikram's fault. If it weren't for Vikram, not only would I not be in this situation right now, but Regina would be alive, Danny would have never gone to jail, Jo and I would still be friends, and we would have had a normal life. All three of us. Together as best friends. I clench my fists and I suddenly have an extreme desire for revenge, and I wonder how Danny has held it in for so long.


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm asking for opinions for a story non fan fiction related at the bottom of the chapter, read it and answer if you don't mind!**

Lacey's POV

"It's just... I have so many memories of Jo, it's hard to believe what's happened." I hear a voice drifting from the counselor's office. I stop in my tracks and take a step backwards so I can see through the slits in the blinds of the windows. I was on my way to the bathroom, but I'm suddenly more intrigued by what's going on inside.

"What's this?" I ask as I enter the room uninvited, pushing the door all the way open until it taps the wall. Several popular girls sit in cushioned chairs in a half circle around the front of the counselor, who has her hands folded and placed on her desk with an intense look of understanding emanating from her.

"Some of your fellow students felt the need to discuss how they feel about Johanna's..." She stops for a few seconds, looking for the right word. "_accident._" One of the girls pretends to let out a small sob and the girl sitting next to her rests her hand on the first girl's shoulder. That's the worst word she could have possibly come up with, because it was the furthest thing from an accident. An accident is when you fall off your bike and scrape your elbow, but what happened to Jo, that was intentional attempted slaughter. So I tell the counselor this. She looks at me in concern, and motions with her hand for me to pull up the last empty chair.

I glance at the chair, but stride to the middle of the room instead.

"What are you all doing here?" I ask all of the teenagers.

"Lacey, you're not the only one trying to deal with what's happened." The counselor scolds me. I snort with incredulity and glare at everyone in the room.

"I don't understand how all of you could be in here discussing this and your 'feelings'! There isn't one of you that didn't either ignore her or bully her! Don't use Jo as an excuse to skip class." I lecture them, making exaggerate hand gestures.

"Rico is Jo's best friend, and he's not here. You know why? Because he knows you're all full of bullshit." I say, walking out of the room before any of the dumbstruck idiots can respond. It's like Regina's grief group all over again and I slam the door behind me. It echoes in the empty hallway, and I retreat to a further hall so the counselor can't hunt me down.

I take a deep breath and lean against the lockers. The locks press into my spine, but I don't really care as I lower myself to the ground and wrap my arms around my knees. I hate what's happening, I feel like everything I care about is slowly drifting off.

Danny has started to fight a losing battle in court, they found his fingerprints on the wooden handles of the jump rope that strangled Jo and there's no way for him to prove that they were only there because he was trying to untangle the rope from around Jo's abused throat. He's being held in the county jail without bail, because they think he's going to go kill Jo in the hospital.

Jo's condition hasn't improved. She's been in a coma for four days. I wouldn't really know how bad she looks though, I've been too scared to visit her. I'm afraid to see Jo all vulnerable and broken in a hospital bed, and I'm afraid I'll run into her parents there. Their disapproving gaze is something I really don't want to have to deal with. I'm sure they think it's partially my fault that Jo is in the hospital, and I guess it is, even though Danny isn't the one who did it and I wasn't his accomplice.

I wish I had reconnected with her, hadn't been so quick to think of her as Danny's whiney little pet. If she dies, I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for icing her out. If she wakes up, I don't know what I would do either. _If._ The word feels like a slap in the face. I went to the hospital to ask how she was doing, but I didn't go in. They tell me that if she does wake up, she might have brain damage. Apparently she went too long without oxygen before the paramedics revived her completely.

"Lacey?" Rico's unsure tone pulls me out of my deep thoughts and I look up at him towering over me. He stands there for a moment wondering if he's welcome. I nod and he sits down next to me.

"Rough day?" He asks, staring off at a distant locker.

"You could say that." I reply, brushing my hair out of my face.

"People keep asking me about Jo, and I don't know what to say." He tells me. When I glance at his face, his eyes are puffy and red like he's about to cry.

"Have you seen her yet?" I ask him out of genuine curiosity as well as trying to fill the silence.

"Yes. Every chance I get." He whispers.

"Say hi to her for me, ok?" I ask him. He nods.

"I have to get back to class." I mutter, composing myself and standing up. He gives a small wave and I try to smile at him before walking down the hall.

**I know it's a REALLY short chapter, but I have finals in four days and I'm pretty occupied studying for them. The question I wanted to ask you guys is for one of my short stories that isn't a fan fiction, and I need to pick a name for my main character. I want something that is a long name that can be shortened to a short name. The character has green eyes and her hair is plain brown, and her personality is outgoing but also obedient and well composed. Here are the names I'm choosing between (the nick names are in parentheses), but if you have any other suggestions I'm happy to hear them!**

**Annette (Annie) *Leaning towards this one**

**Annabeth (Anne)**

**Jayden (Jade)**

**Daniela (Danny)**

**Felicia (Faye)**

**Katrina (Kat)**

**Arianna (Ari)**

**Elizabeth (Beth) *Probably my second choice, but idk**


	5. Chapter 5

Lacey's POV

Danny's case just keeps getting worse and worse. It's been two more days and the only piece of evidence for the entire case - for and against him- is his prints on the jump rope. I could fix all of this if only I could testify on the witness stand, but the court isn't sure if they'll let me yet. They're debating that I'm an "unreliable teenager who is also the love interest of the suspect".

Jo still hasn't woken up. I've talked to Rico twice since the first time in the hallway after the counselor incident, and he says she's the same. I've decided to go see her though.

"Johanna Masterson?" I ask the nurse at the front desk. I nervously shift and the plastic around the flowers I'm holding crinkles. The name Johanna is foreign in my mouth, I don't think I've ever called her that.

"Room 202. Just down that hall on the right." The nurse says, directing me with a pointing finger.

"Thanks." I mutter. I walk down the sterile hallway and all I can hear is my footsteps in the eerily silent corridor. I keep my head down and watch the reflections of the rectangular lights in the shiny white tiles.

When I finally reach Jo's room, I reach out for the doorknob only to withdraw my hand quickly. What if I don't like what I see inside? Of _course you're not going to like it, you idiot._ I curse myself. I've had people tell me that when you talk to someone in a coma it comforts them and encourages them to wake up. I wonder if that's true. Maybe if I talk to Jo it could help her get better, but I don't know, I wasn't one of the most important people in her life.

With a deep breath I open the door and walk into the room before I can change my mind. I gasp at the sight. It's just as bad as I thought it would be. The door glides shut behind me and I slowly take small steps towards Jo's bedside. The whirring of the machine breathing for her makes my chest compress. I gently place the flowers on the table nearby and sit down in the chair already positioned next to her.

"Hey Jo." I say.

"I know you can't hear me, but I just want to apologize. For everything. Everything I've ever done to you and anything I might do in the future, because honestly, I'm not the friend that you are. You stick beside the people you care about. I used to mistake that for clingy, but I understand now that you try to help. You latch onto someone and never let go, not even during the worst hour, because that's who you are."

I pause, as if she's going to respond, and tears start running down my cheeks. I slowly reach out and touch her hand, expecting it to be cold. It's surprisingly warm, and I wrap my fingers around hers and let the tears run.

"Danny's in trouble." I tell her. "He's going to go to jail because everyone thinks he did this to you. They won't listen to me. You're the only one that can tell them what happened, you have to wake up." I croak.

"For me then? For Rico? For your parents, for anyone!" I'm beginning to get hysterical. "Just wake up. I know you can. You're strong Jo, and you can pull through this." I tell her. I don't think I can take anymore, so I release her hand and quickly walk toward the door. I hear a shuffling noise behind me, and whirl around. It might just be my imagination, but it looks like Jo's head has tilted to the side a tiny bit. Her finger twitches. I rush back over to her and watch with hope. Her eyelids flutter, and her chest rises and falls in a lifelike pattern instead of the _up-...down-... _of the machine.

"Hey Jo, are you there?" I ask. "If you're awake, give me some sign, wiggle your finger, move your arm, anything." I whisper calmly. I wrap my hand around hers and encourage her to pull out of her deep sleep. Her hand squeezes mine slightly, just enough for me to feel it.

"Someone come in here!" I shout over my shoulder as I press the nurse button on the control near her bed.

"Come on Jo, come on!" I sound like a cheerleader encouraging the star player of a sport to make the winning shot.

A doctor rushes in and watches in amazement as Jo's eyes flutter open and flick around the room, taking in her surroundings.

"Hey Jo." I say, my smile contradicting the tears in the corners of my eyes. She gives me a blank look, like she doesn't have the energy to do otherwise, but she now grips my hand in hers with some force. The doctor immediately gets to work, checking all the machines near her and giving her some kind of drug through her IV.

"This is amazing." The doctor mutters.

"What?" I ask.

"She shouldn't be able to squeeze your hand yet, or track you with her eyes. I've never seen recovery that fast with a comatose patient." He says. "Walk around her bed to the other side, I need to see what she does." I do as the doctor says and release Jo's hand, walking around the foot of the bed. Jo's eyes follow me, and when I'm too far to her right she slightly turns her head.

"That's unbelievable." The doctor gasps.

"I told you you could do it." I tell Jo. She just looks at me calmly.

"You're going to be alright." I tell her, taking hold of her other hand. The doctor smiles in agreement and I'm suddenly very anxious for her to recover. Everything can go back to the way it was, Danny can be declared innocent and the police will finally go after the real criminal. The man who killed Danny's aunt, my friend, and almost my other friend. twice.

**I know, another short chapter, I'm sorry, I wrote it during a study break. When Finals are over next week I promise to write a nice long chapter that takes more than three seconds to read, lol.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Guess who's done with finals?! So here's your next chapter! You can see how Jo is doing now that she's woken up. **

Jo's POV

My father wants to place me in the witness protection program. He wants me to take a new name, hide behind a new identity, and leave my friends. But I don't want to do that, and I've convinced him to let me stay by telling him that I'd probably be safer here. Now that Danny is released from police custody and the cops are on a manhunt for Vikram, I told my father that Vikram wouldn't dare coming back. Vikram is too sly for that, he'd hide in the shadows even if the only one was a thousand miles away from where he wanted to be.

I'm still in the hospital, but I'm told I'll be released soon. I feel perfectly fine except for my embarrassingly awful stutter in my speech and my awkward body movements. The doctor tells me that's completely normal for a brain injury like mine and that I may or may not recover. I really hope I do. It was quite embarrassing in court explaining what happened when I couldn't speak without having to repeat a piece of every other word.

"Hey Jo, how are you feeling?" Danny asks as he and Lacey walk into my room.

"I'm f-fine. Just can't wa-wait to g- ge-" I struggle with the word, furrowing my eyebrows and trying to get my brain to let me say the word I'm looking for.

"get." I finally spit it out. "out of here." I finish. Danny and Lacey look at me with sympathy and it sort of irritates me. I'm quite lucky, only getting off with a speech impairment and a few jerky limbs. It could have been a lot worse.

"I bet you want to get out of that hospital gown and into some real clothes." Lacey says with a smile to encourage a conversation. The doctor says that if I'm going to be able to speak how I once did, the best way to do it is to practice, just like physical therapy, but for your brain.

"Yeah. I'm look-looking f...forward, to real food t-too." I say. The hospital food sucks. They laugh and Danny moves his hands from behind his back, offering me a bag of chips from the snack machine outside.

"You g-guys are the b-best." I thank them, relishing the scent when the bag is first opened and digging into it.

"We have another surprise for you, we're here to take you home." Lacey says, practically jumping with excitement and anticipation of my reaction.

"R-really?!" I ask, overjoyed.

"Yeah, get up and change into these." Lacey smiles, pulling some sweats out of a bag at her side and tossing them on my lap.

"Alright, j-just a s-sec." I say, clutching the clothes as I make my way over to the bathroom. I can walk and everything just fine, every now and then I just have a little moment where I can't make myself move something or I have something that's basically a little muscle spasm. I'm extremely lucky, the stuttering is really the only problem.

I change quickly and when I walk back into the main room, Danny pats the back of a wheelchair with his palm and it makes a slapping noise, motioning me to sit down.

"I c-can w-walk." I say, slightly offended.

"Hospital policy, sorry." Lacey says with a shrug.

"You got everything?" Danny asks as he hands me my bag full of stuff people had brought me over the week I've been here since I woke up.

"My B-book." I say, pointing towards it. I'm too lazy to try and stutter 'My book is on the table by the bed' when I can use a perfectly good shortcut.

"Alright, let's get you home." Danny smiles, wheeling me out of the room while I hug my backpack in front of me. I've kept up my studies and I want to go back to school as soon as possible, and I want to get back to my study sessions with Rico. I'm kind of surprised, he hasn't come to see me since I woke up. I wonder why. I guess I'll talk to him when I plan on going back to school, tomorrow. I'm tired of sitting around and I'm ready to throw myself back into life. I'm trying to remain optimistic.

Danny's POV

It hurts terribly to watch Jo struggle to speak. She often furrows her eyebrows and looks down, obviously trying to form a sound in her mouth and playing around with it until she finally says what she's thinking. I feel like it's my fault, if I hadn't been such an idiot as to tell my father that she knew everything, he wouldn't have had a reason to go after her.

I can tell Lacey feels guilty too, though she has no reason to. It seems as though everyone thinks themselves guilty. Rico's been guilty too, he told Lacey that he and Jo had a falling out and the last thing he had said to her was something hurtful.

"Th-thank y-you guys." Jo says happily from the back seat of Lacey's car.

"Don't mention it." I say with a smile while putting my hair back into a ponytail.

"So you're feeling ok for sure?" I ask, just checking for the millionth time.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine, y-you guys d-don't need to w-wor... wor..." Jo looks down at her fingers, embarrassed.

"Worry?" I try to fill in the blank for her, to help her out. It's so sad to see her struggling with something as easy as a five letter word.

"Yeah. That." She says. She immediately jumps back to her perky mood.

"When are you planning on getting back to school?" Lacey asks, taking the words out of my mouth.

"To-tomor-tomorrow." Jo says. She looks proud that she's conquered a longer word, but I don't really notice because I'm worried about her returning to school, where she could struggle.

"Are you sure about that? Are you going to be able to do it?" I ask.

"Just be...cause I can't t-talk doesn't mean I'm s-stupid." She says defensively.

"We know you're not stupid, we're just wondering if it's too much too fast." Lacey says to get Jo to stop being annoyed with us.

"I-if this doesn't g-go away and I s-sta-stay home because of... of it, then I'll n-never get b-back." She says. She makes a good point, but it's still frustrating for both of us that she can hardly say something that long.

"They t-told me it.. it..." She pauses, again searching for words. _What have I done to her?_

"It should get easy-easier." She says. I can't tell if she's trying to convince us or herself.

"Th-thanks f-for the ride." She says as she hops out of the car at her house with her back pack slung over her shoulder.

"We should come in with you." Lacey says.

"O-only if you h-help m-me study. Quiz.. quiz me." She says. She smiles when she knows she's won.

"Fine." I sigh. Lacey looks at me incredulously, but gives in as well and turns off the ignition to the car.

Lacey's POV

I feel so terrible for Jo, but she seems to be taking it much better than Danny and I, which is ironic. She acts like nothing's wrong, she just wants to pick up right where she left off and pretend it never happened.

At least she's woken up. That makes everything so much better. I know she's not going to die, Danny's not going to jail, and Vikram is going to finally get what he deserves when he's caught. Maybe it really is over now. Jo is on a road to recovery, but other than that, everything seems settled.

"And you're insisting on going back to school tomorrow?" I ask as a last hope. I wish she would stay home for a while, she thinks she can go back because she's awake, but I don't want her to be hassled by all the kids wanting to know what happened.

"Yup. I'm s-sure." She says. She has an unreadable expression on her face as she stares at the book in front of her while taking notes and I wonder if the stutter on that one was because of her condition or if she really isn't sure.

**Follow, read, and review! Thanks guys!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I've been getting so many reviews complaining that they don't need another Jo the victim story. If you're one of those people who left one of those or if you are about to, just stop. It's extremely annoying because I'm going to write my story for the people who do like it, no matter how small that number is, and if you really don't like it don't read it and definitely don't leave those comments because all it does is annoy me, I'm not going to delete the story.**

**For those of you who are actually here to read the story and not spit on it, I hope you like it. **

Jo's POV

I close my locker door and jump with a start when I find I'm facing a group of people.

"How are you going Jo?"

"Are you ok?"

"What happened?"

"Is everything I heard true?"

I am instantly pelted with questions as if I am expected to answer them.

"I c-can't answer... answer that if I d-don't know w-what y-you heard." I answer the only question I understood. All the people around me seem to be all the popular gossipers who want to know what they should spread. A writer for the school newspaper is here too with a pad of paper.

"Can I interview you for the paper?" She asks.

"N-no, s-sorry." I answer her, finally pushing through the small crowd and heading to my first class.

"What's wrong with her voice?" I hear people whispering behind me. I roll my eyes and smile at their typical behavior. It's so good to be back in the predictable cliché of high school, where I know everything that's going to happen.

"Rico!" I call out as I spot him down the hall. He turns quickly but looks down when he realizes it's me.

"W-wait up!" I call out as he continues to class. I finally catch up with him, grabbing his shoulder and whirling him to face me.

"Wh-what's g-gotten into y-you?" I ask him. He looks surprised.

"I didn't think you'd want to talk to me." He says guiltily. "If I hadn't snapped at you and left..." He drops his sentence as the possible outcome of that night plays through both of our heads.

"R-rico, listen, e-every..one th-thinks that it's th-their f-fault, what... happened t-to.. to me, but the o-only one at f-fault is V-vikram." I tell him, staring straight into his teary eyes. It sends a shiver down my spine to say his name, but that's not important. Rico takes a minute to consider what I've said.

"I'm just glad you're alright." He tells me. The bell shrills through the hallway and I smile as we begin to walk to class.

"Every-everything is going to b-be fine." I tell him, taking hold of his elbow and bringing him with me to first period.

The whole period everyone stares at me, even the teacher. It isn't surprising, I'd probably do the same thing if I weren't the one in this situation. They're just curious. Rico looks at me with pity and glares at anyone staring at me. He's like my metaphorical guard dog.

"Miss Masterson, will you please read the section?" When my name is called I snap to attention. This teacher obviously doesn't know.

"I... uh... I-I..." I stutter in a miserable attempt to get out of reading.

"T-the mi-mito... chon-chondion.." I begin to try and read the section out loud about this part of a plant cell, but I can't get the name mitochondrion out, even though I know the word, it's turned up on flashcards with Rico a million times.

"is a sphere-spherical to r-rod-shaped or-organ... elles with a d-double m-mem-brane." Giggles can be heard from the other side of the room and my cheeks flush red. The teacher looks at me guiltily as he realizes what is going on. I know exactly what the book says, I can read it in my head perfectly fine. I already know that the mitochondrion is a spherical to rod-shaped organelles with a double membrane. I already know that the inner membrane is infolded many times, forming a series of projections called cristae. I know that the mitochondrion converts the energy stored in glucose into adenosine triphosphate for the cell, but I just can't read it with my voice.

"The in-inner mem..brane is in-in-in..." the snickers turn into laughs and I slam my book shut, running out of the room to catch my breath. Maybe Lacey was right, I probably should have waited until I could read the textbook to come back to school.

"Johanna, you can just read the section out here until class is over if you like." My teacher says, offering me the textbook before reentering the classroom. I accept it and sit beside the classroom door, rereading the section I memorized weeks ago.

The bell rings and I sit the book back on my desk inside the class before hurrying to my next period.

"Hey! Jo, you alright?" Rico catches up to me just as Lacey approaches me from ahead.

"F-fine." I tell him, clutching my books tighter to my chest.

"What happened?" Lacey asks, asking Rico more than me.

"Just a l-little t-trouble reading." I say. My stuttering is so much worse in a classroom full of listeners than in front of two of my friends.

"You sure you're alright?" Lacey asks.

"Yes." I tell her.

"You're lying." Rico accuses. People are staring and pressure is building in my ears from the embarrassment.

"Just s-stop a-attacking me, o-ok... ok guys?" I ask them, walking away to find the only person who will talk to me like a normal person, Danny.

I find him beside his locker, preparing for his next class.

"Hey." I say to grab his attention.

"Hey Jo, how's your first day back?" He asks.

"G-good." I tell him.

"Is something wrong?" He asks. I roll my eyes. I'm tired of people always asking me if I'm alright, because I really don't know what to tell them.

"Yeah, L-lacey and Rico k-keep bugging me." I say.

"You know they're just trying to be helpful." He says.

"W-well they're n-not." I answer.

"Well, I gotta get to class, you probably should too, unless you want a tardy to be on your spotless permanent record." He teases, playfully jabbing me in the shoulder with his fist before turning and walking away.

"R-right. Class." I mutter, forcing my feet to drag me towards my next fifty minute block of boring. I've never been so impatient to get home before.

"Now after watching that video, I'd like you all to write a response to question 7 on page 423. Five sentences minimum." We're instructed. I pull out a notebook and pencil and begin to write only to realize I can't write decently with my cast. The letters look like numbers and the lines blur together until my writing couldn't be differentiated from scribbles.

I switch to my left hand and can write legibly, but I have about 15 words down when we're asked to pass them forward. I groan and slap my pencil against my desktop, earning a glare from my teacher. The bell rings and I dart into the hallway, eager to catch up to Danny for the period we share together.

"H-h-hey j-j-j-jo!" Archie calls out behind me. Because I don't think I'm able to speak the obscenities I'd like to shout at him, I flick my middle finger in the air as I walk backwards away from him, smirking like nobody's business.

"You're only going to piss him off." Danny scolds me, pushing my hand back down to my side as he leads me away by the elbow.

"H-he deserved i-it." I tell Danny, still filled with enthusiasm about flicking Archie off.

"Doesn't matter, now he's got a reason to dislike you." Danny says.

"Oh c-come o-on, I'll be f-fine." I tell him.

"If you say so." Danny sighs.


	8. Chapter 8

**I've got a nice long chapter for you guys today, but I'm warning you ahead of time that while it's long, it's not my best writing because I'm having a bit of a writer's block.**

I begin to walk from school to Johnny Cake's, I told Rico I'd meet him there to study again today. Everything seems eerily quiet as my sneakers pad across the sidewalk. It seems... almost too quiet. I reach into my back to call Rico to see if he's there, but a canvas bag slides over my head. I scream like a maniac, but that doesn't stop several pairs of hands from dragging me away from the sidewalk. I trip on the curb and my attackers use my moment of weakness to raise me into the air. For a moment I think it's Vikram, but I realize that Vikram obviously doesn't have six hands.

I'm thrown onto the carpeted floor of what I presume is a car, probably a van, and when I hear a door slam the bag is yanked off my head.

"Hey j-j-j-jo." Archie laughs, along with his whole soccer team in the van.

"L-let me g-go." I demand, but they silence me with a piece of duct tape and begin to tape my hands together behind my back as well. I sit still and cooperate because I know they're only going to do something worse if I try to get away.

The guys just chuckle and laugh the whole drive, which seems to last forever. I sit up just enough to look out the window and see a sign that says "Leaving Green Grove" Before one of the guys pushes me onto my side. _What are they doing?_

When the car finally pulls to a stop, it's dark outside and we seem to be in the middle of nowhere, trees surrounding the road and not a streetlight or another car in sight.

"No one can hear you for miles." One of the guys says before ripping the duct tape off my face. I wince in pain and I'm sure there's a red mark where it used to be.

"W-what are you g-going t-to d-do, kill m-me?" I ask in a snide voice.

"Don't give me any ideas." Archie says, signaling his buddies to push me out of the car. I land on my knees but only remain there for a second because two of them lift me into the air.

"H-hey!" I shout, just before they throw me. I land with a huge splash into a massive mud puddle and I spit to get some of the disgusting grit out of my mouth.

"Have fun g-g-g-getting home j-j-j-j-jo!" Archie taunts as the team gets back into the van and drives away whooping, shouting, and laughing.

I groan and sit up, mud dripping from my blonde hair and running down my face. At least the wet glop did something good for me, my hands slide out of the duct tape now that it's been weakened by liquid. I find my bag next to me in the mud, almost completely submerged.

"P-please no..." I beg as I drag it and myself out of the disgusting puddle. I open the flap to find every single book and paper sopping wet.

"Ugh!" I yell, frustrated. I frantically dig around until I find my cell phone and pray to god it works. I swipe some mud off the screen and practically burst into tears when I can't get the screen to light up. I stand up and throw my bag down on the ground beside me. It's ruined along with everything in it, nothing is useful. I try my best to wipe mud of my face, but my fingers are coated in it as well and I can't wipe it off due to all my clothing being soaked with it. I've also made a mess of my cast, which isn't supposed to be water proof.

I sigh and begin my long trek home, following the road and trudging in the same direction I saw Archie drive away. Great. Maybe I'll make it home before tomorrow night.

Danny's POV

I'm walking down the hall towards my last class of the day when I notice the soccer team whispering and snickering. It's probably about me, maybe they're plotting another way to get me into trouble.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask them on a whim.

"Oh, nothing you'd be interested in, just a prank on an opposing school." Archie says with a sneer. They're like five year olds, pretending they have something to do just so they can exclude me. It's kind of funny really.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I shrug as I walk to class.

* * *

"Hey Lace, have you seen Jo?" I ask as we walk away from the school.

"She's probably with Rico at Johnny Cake's as usual." She tells me.

"Ok, thanks. Want to tag along?" I ask as I face the direction I need to go.

"Nah, Jo and I aren't in the best position right now." She says. My phone shrills and I pick it up immediately, waving to Lacey as she begins to walk away.

"No, she's not with me." I say into the phone, confused.

"We were supposed to meet here an hour ago but she's not here." Rico whines. When I wonder where she might be, for some reason the first thing that comes into my head is with the soccer team. They were picking on her earlier and she fought back, they wouldn't go after her again would they? It just makes sense, that HAD to have been what they were talking about in the hallway.

"I'll find her." I grunt into the phone, hanging up before I get a response.

"Lacey!" I call out before she gets into her car.

"I need you to come with me to talk to Archie." I say in a grim voice. She looks concerned, but she follows me towards the soccer field anyway.

Jo's POV 

The weight of my jacket coated in mud is pulling me downward, but it's so dark that the temperature has dropped enough for me to need it. A shiver runs down my spine as a cool breeze passes me, rustling the leaves above. The quiet makes me feel so alone and far from home.

The trees have surrounded me with quiet and I wonder if anything actually lives in those woods. I stay close to the road, which I can hardly see, and hope that there aren't any bears or wolves in this area that aren't afraid of wandering close to the street.

I decide that I should lie down somewhere and sleep so that I can stay awake the whole day tomorrow and make my way back. It would also be more likely for me to catch a ride during the day from a passing car. I pick a nice spot with large patches of grass and collapse onto my back.

A swift rustle nearby scares me into a sitting position and I scan the surrounding area with eyes that have now adjusted to the dark of the night. I tell myself it's paranoia, but the sounds sound much like footsteps. I take a few deep breaths and lie back down, convincing myself I'm only hearing a squirrel, or even nothing at all. I locate stars and constellations to pass time and keep my mind busy until I slowly drift off.

The low rumbling behind me grabs my attention and my eyes flutter open. It's early enough in the morning to still be dark, but light enough for me to see things in front of me. I stand up and brush the grass off my back, even though it doesn't do any good for my physical appearance. I can imagine what I look like, caked in mud from head to toe, bloodshot eyes, messy cast and tangled hair. I probably look like I've been living out here for too long.

The lights almost warm me up as they get closer and closer. I've never hitch-hiked before, but there's a first time for everything. As the vehicle gets closer, I note that it's a large semi with a single driver. I turn to face the road and stick my thumb in the air to let him know to stop.

As signaled, he slows to a halt and the truck makes a low groaning noise and then a high pitched squeal as the wheels grip at the pavement.

"You need a ride somewhere little lady?" The man asks in a kind voice. His short beard is grey and he has a fairly large gut, but his eyes are full of life.

I simply nod and he pats the seat next to him before leaning over and opening the passenger door.

As I round the front of the semi every instinct I have is screaming at me not to get into the vehicle with a stranger, but that's probably just years of my father talking about stranger danger kicking into effect in my mind.

The man smiles at me kindly as I buckle my seat belt and I try to smile back.

"So where are you headed?" He asks, completely ignoring my lack of hygiene at the moment.

"G-Green G-Grove." I tell him. He nods before asking me the inevitable question.

"What's wrong with your voice honey?"

"A-accident." I tell him simply, obviously making sure the topic is closed to discussion.

"Alright, I'll get you home in no time." He says, putting the semi back into drive and hitting the gas pedal.

Danny's POV

Steam is billowing out of my ears as I stomp straight into the middle of a soccer practice. Lacey stops hesitantly at the edge of the field, but my eyes are locked on Archie.

"What'd you do to her?" I yell as I surprise Archie and tackle him to the ground. I pin him in one swift move and make the most intimidating face I can muster.

"Desai, get off my field!" Coach yells from the opposite sideline.

"Not until you tell me what you did." I growl in response to coach, although I'm talking to Archie.

"I didn't do anything." He snickers.

"Don't lie! Where is she?" I sound like a wild animal, snarling and growling over an enemy. I slam my fist into his face and coach runs over to stop me, but hesitates when he sees the ferocity in my eyes.

"Ok man! The team and I just took her for a little ride, that's all!" Archie yells, nodding for his teammates to come pull me off of him. They manage to get me back to the side of the field.

"We just took her on some back road east of town." Archie mutters, wiping a trail of blood from his face. Lacey looks at me in horror, and I jerk my arms from the soccer players' hands.

"Come on Lacey, we need to go find her." I tell her. She follows behind me silently as I call Rico and tell him to wait at her house in case she shows up.

* * *

"There!" Lacey shouts. I hit the brakes and the car screeches to a halt.

"I think that's her bag!" Lacey says, jumping out of the car and running over to the sopping mess lying halfway in a mud puddle. I can only imagine how it got there, and I flinch at the idea of Jo being thrown into it as she probably was.

"All her stuff is inside still, even her phone." Lacey says with worry, still investigating the bag and ignoring the fact that mud is getting stuck beneath her nails.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's ok, it's common sense to leave it all behind, it's extra weight and it's worthless." I say. Lacey sighs, although I can still tell she's worrying her ass off.

"Are those tracks?" She asks, pointing at what appears to be indents in the ground leading to the edge pavement of the road.

"Looks like. Lets follow them in the car, we'll probably run into her." I suggest.

"We just came from that way, wouldn't we have seen her?" Lacey asks.

"I don't know, let's just see where they go, ok?" I tell her, but I'm starting to wonder too.

We follow the tracks for a good mile or two, driving slowly to make sure the muddy prints of the bottoms of Jo's sneakers on the pavement at the edge of the road.

"They're gone." Lacey observes. I stop the car and run my fingers through my hair in stress as we get out and walk back to the end of the tracks. I shine my flashlight on them so we can get a better look in the dark.

"You see here, her tracks come into the middle of the road, turn around, and disappear." Lacey says, pointing and demonstrating the movements with her own feet.

"It almost looks like she got into someone's car." She says.

"Great. Now how are we going to find her?" I moan while habitually pulling my hair out of its ponytail and redoing it.

"If she hitch-hiked she's probably back at home now." Lacey says to try and calm both of us down. I dial Rico and hold the phone up to my ear while Lacey paces back and forth in front of the car before finally deciding to get in and wait for me. Rico picks up on the fourth ring and I immediately start blabbering.

"Did Jo make it home?" I ask him.

"No, I even checked the diner and she wasn't there." Rico says.

"We found some old tracks by the road, she should have made it home by now if she got in a car like we think."

"Maybe we should tell Mr. Masterson?" Rico says with worry.

"You know he's just going to deal with the problem by trying to arrest me." I moan.

"Good point. I'll keep searching and let you know if anything turns up." He says.

"OK, bye Rico." I say before hanging up. I get into the car in miserable defeat and hang my head.

"Anything?" Lacey asks.

"Our only lead has run dry." I tell her.

Jo's POV

The inside of the semi is fairly silent except for the engine noises as we drive back towards Green Grove. I hope this man was already going to pass through there, I wouldn't want to be a bother and take him off route for wherever he's going.

"So, Jo, how did you get out there in the middle of nowhere covered in mud?" He asks.

"I d-didn't tell y-you my name." I say, confused. Fear and recognition creep into my chest and close up my throat. The man next to me looks like he's internally cursing himself. The semi stops at a red light and I take it as my signal to go.

"Th-thanks for bring m-me back." I stutter, shaking as I try to wrap my fingers around the door handle. I finally unlock it and prepare to hop out before the light turns green, but the man wraps his hand around the back collar of my shirt and yanks me back in, cutting off my breath and reminding me what being choked feels like.

"You're not going anywhere, I have a job to do and I intend on completing it to get paid." The man's once kind voice that had a southern drawl is now gruff and unfriendly. I begin to scream, but a cloth is shoved over my face and I'm smart enough to recognize the scent of chloroform before I inhale it.

"I didn't want to have to do this the hard way." The man apologizes. I've held my breath this long to avoid the chloroform and I fake passing out again. Once I'm presumed unconscious, I start to breathe again like any unconscious person as he discretely carries me to the back of the semi. He opens it just enough to step inside and brings me to the center. The only thing in the entire semi is a chair bolted to the ground and some rope. This was obviously planned. But for what purpose?

The driver drops me into the chair - very roughly I might add- and begins to tightly tie my wrists to the arms of the chair and my ankles to the legs. He even ropes around my torso and the back of the chair several times as a precaution. I open my eyes and glare at him as he secures a rag that tastes like grease around my face and shoves it into my mouth.

"Sorry kiddo." He says, although his smirk is contradicting his apology. "But I need my pay."

I've got to have the highest kidnap/attack count in all of Green Grove even though my father is a police officer. And here I am, stuck in yet another predicament._ Am I really stupid enough to get into a stranger's car? What the hell is wrong with me?_

**Oh Jo, getting herself into all kinds of messes, lol. Stick around if you want to know what's going on.**


	9. Chapter 9

**This might be the last chapter! I haven't decided if I am going to end it here or give a last here's-how-everything-turned-out chapter. Let me know. I hope you enjoy the ending!**

Lacey's POV

Jo disappeared into thin air last night, and no one's seen her since. Her dad eventually found out and now her picture is all over the news. Even at school. My mom let me come home from school today to avoid all the crowds of people that want to pretend they know Jo so they can be part of the drama.

I'm packing up a backpack full of a few supplies like flashlights and snacks as I prepare to sneak out at midnight to join Danny in a second search of the road Jo was dumped at and all the area between here and there.

The police aren't getting anywhere in their investigation, they're still stuck at her footprints where Danny and I were last night. We're determined to find her, and anyone who gets in the way will have to stop us forcefully. Danny and I try not to think about what could be happening, wherever she is.

"She's going to be ok, we'll find her." Danny whispers into my ear.

"I hope so." I mutter, pulling my hair from beneath the jacket I just pulled on and zipping the zipper all the way to my neck.

Danny wanders to my nightstand and picks up a framed photo of him, Jo, and I as kids.

"We're going to get this back you know, some day." He says, tapping the frame with his finger before gently placing it back exactly where it came from.

"We should go now." Danny says right before my phone starts ringing to tell me it's midnight.

Jo's POV

"I'm sorry kid, but I need this job." The man says sincerely. I practically growl at him as he comes near me and puts his hand on my shoulder. He checks his phone once before walking towards the back of the semi load, where the door is. He unlatches it and I flinch when he throws it into the air. An unstoppable whimper escapes my throat when Vikram steps up into the semi.

"Hello again Johanna." He sneers.

"Well done, but you could have gotten her here a little... cleaner." He says, looking me up and down. Vikram hands the man a large sum of cash. The man starts to walk towards the exit, but at the last second Vikram pulls out a gun and shoots the man in the back. The gun makes a tremendously loud bang and echoes throughout the back of the semi. I scream into the gag and try to make myself as small as possible in the chair, even though I'm completely helpless.

"No witnesses." Vikram says, picking up the money and kicking the body towards the wall. He closes the door and walks toward me, turning on a light that was installed above the chair.

"It's been a while Johanna." He laughs, patting me on the shoulder. His touch makes a shiver run down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.

"Without further ado, my master agenda." He chuckles, running his fingers along my jaw. I want to bite him until he bleeds, but the greasy gag in my mouth and lack of mobility make that impossible.

"I usually have a policy of no witnesses, but Danny was my only exception, being my son." He begins to explain. I'm not liking where this is going, because I know I'm a witness.

"He broke my trust by telling you, and I'm sure Lacey knows as well. So Danny is no longer protected because he is my son, he is a danger because he could tell people what happened." He continues. I think I understand, but I don't want it to be true.

"The only way to stop that is to kill him. The only way to kill him is to trap him, and the only way to trap him is with you." He laughs. "And I'm sure Lacey will come too, so I can just kill all of you at once!" The longer he talks, the more fear and anger creeps to my heart and the more crazy he looks.

"But I need to lead him here, and I can't risk leaving you out in the open." Vikram says slyly. He unties each of my hands briefly one at a time while he forcefully slides my jacket off. His touch makes me want to vomit all over him.

"I'm going to need some blood, and it's not going to be mine." He says after securing me again. When he pulls out a knife, I begin to shake and whimper as it comes nearer. He presses the tip against my forearm and I squeeze my eyes shut and scream as he drags the cold silver blade across it. I feel my skin parting and the warm liquid oozing out of my arm. Vikram presses the dirty jacket against it, soaking up all the blood before it clots. I'm sure the mud is getting into the gash and I fear I'll end up dying of infection before Danny and Lacey or the police find me.

"Thank you for being so cooperative Johanna." He says with a laugh, taking my scarf as well before leaving the semi, turning off the light, and slamming the door, leaving me in silence and darkness. Now that the pain in my arm is a dull stinging, I can harness all my emotion and turn it into anger instead of fear as I thrash violently and stomp on the bottom of the truck, hoping that someone outside, anyone, can hear me.

Danny's POV

Lacey drums her fingers against the steering wheel. It's the third time we've driven the whole span of the distance between Jo's footsteps and Green Grove, we haven't seen anything, and it's already 2 A.M.

"This isn't working." Lacey complains.

"Just keep driving." I tell her, leaning out the window with a flashlight and looking for anything that could help us track Jo down.

Another round passes in silence, but on the fourth go, I stop Lacey and jump out of the car.

"Jo's jacket!" I call out with Lacey right on my tail. I gently lift the dirty piece of clothing and bring it back to the car to spread it across the hood. Lacey and I both inspect it with flashlights only to find that the only peculiar thing is that one sleeve has been ripped off. Lacey starts to walk back to where we found the coat, but I stop her with one hand as I investigate the small red dot on the inside of the jacket. Lacey quickly flips it over and we gasp at the bloody back of the jacket that we somehow didn't notice before. pieces are missing here and there, some leaving small shredded sections hanging off.

"What the hell happened?!" Lacey panics. We leave the jacket on the hood of the car and run back to the side of the road where we found it, flashlights in hand.

"Those look like animal tracks." Lacey points out. I kneel next to the and we both aim our beams at one particular print that looks very much like one of a dog.

"This doesn't make any sense!" I hiss in frustration.

"If she got into a car, how did any of this happen?" Lacey ponders.

"Danny look over here!" Lacey calls, running down the road to another piece of cloth lying on the ground.

"Her sleeve." Lacey sighs, pain evident in her voice.

"Do you think she got mauled by a pack of wolves?" She asks with a crack in her voice.

"I don't know, none of this seems right." I share the feeling I have in my gut that tells me something is wrong.

"Down there!" I shout, running towards scraps of her scarf. Lacey and I don't even bother to pick them up as we follow them away from Lacey's car. By the time we run out of shreds, we're relying on the light of a nearby truck stop to insure that we don't trip over anything in the black of night.

"Do you hear that?" Lacey asks, tilting her head slightly. I tell her to shush and strain my ears to try and pick up the noise she hears. When I do hear it, I practically perk my ears as I recognize the sound. A light banging is echoing softly from a large semi parked in the middle of the empty lot.

"Come on. This could be it." Lacey whispers, walking towards the truck.

"Wait!" I whisper loudly. "Doesn't this all seem too easy? We drive by three times, but the fourth we find this obvious path in an almost perfect straight line to here?" I point out.

"Maybe it was Jo leaving a path in case anyone found it." Lacey says with an optimistic attitude.

"I don't know..."

"What if Jo is here, sick or in trouble and we leave because it looks a little suspicious?!" Lacey says, her voice venomous. I sigh and follow her lead because in the end I know she's right. But I text Chief Masterson our location just in case as we approach the grey semi with a pain advertisement on the side.

"Jo?!" I whisper, walking in circles around the truck. The banging silences.

"She's got to be in there." Lacey says, reaching for the handle to the back of the large truck cargo. I take a deep breath and prepare for anything as Lacey throws open the door. Looking into the dark room, all I can see is a dark figure. I shine my flashlight inside and my heart melts when a startled Jo rears her head back in fear. When she realizes that it's us, tears start leaving clear tracks down her muddy face and she begins trying to scream something.

"Jo!" We both shout, stepping up into the truck. Jo's screaming becomes more frantic and she leans forward as sobs wrack her body, leaving her trembling.

"Jo, it's ok, we found you!" Lacey tries to comfort her, getting closer. Jo continues to scream urgently, and I count three syllables, each of them separated. She's trying to tell us something. Her eyes flick to a point behind us and we swirl around as the door slams shut and we're stuck in the room with the only light being the flashlights, that only light up a few feet of the walls at a time. A light flickers on above Jo and Vikram is standing beside her with a gun in his hands.

"Ah, a family reunion!" He shouts cheerfully, walking towards Lacey and I as we back towards the door. I move in front of Lacey protectively and make eye contact with Jo over my dad's shoulder. He slowly brings the gun to point at my face. My heart pounds in my chest and I do my best to act as a shield to Lacey.

Jo's POV

As Vikram is walking towards Danny and Lacey, I know I have to do something because I'm the one who got us into this mess, and I'm not about to let us die on my watch. _It's a trap. _I had tried to tell them.

The rope over my right arm is on my cast, and I pull as hard as I can. I wince and my eyes water as I hear my fingers make awful cracking noises. I give my hand one last yank and it pulls out of the cast, leaving it tied tightly tied to the arm of the chair. As Vikram raises his gun, I frantically try to untie myself with shaky, newly broken fingers. As soon as my left hand is untied I breeze through the others.

"No witnesses." Vikram says, his finger quivering over the trigger. I run to a wall and pick up the knife I've been eyeing with a left hand grip and launch myself at Vikram with a mad scream.

Danny's POV

Jo suddenly flies out of her seat and tackles Vikram with a knife in her hand. The two fly across the cargo and crash into the wall and the light switch, sending us again into the dark.

"Jo!" I call out. Several impact noises and yelps can be heard echoing around the room during their struggle. I try to find them to help, but it's pitch black and I can't find the flashlight I dropped. Panic starts taking over as the sounds of fist against flesh pang about.

A final gunshot blasts and then silence. My heart jumps out of its throat.

"Jo!" Lacey screams, assuming the worst. I stumble around until I find what I'm looking for and throw the light switch. My pupils adjust to the new light and when I find Jo, she is still on the ground with Vikram lying on top of her.

"No, no, no!" Lacey and both cry as we dive to our knees. I get ready to attack Vikram, but neither one of them move. We shove him off of Jo only to find a bullet hole in his gut and Jo breathing steadily.

"Hey, are you with us?!" I cry out, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I'm g-great." She smiles, her blackened eyes still closed. A small laugh works its way up her throat until she's full out crying with tears of happiness. Lacey and I can't help but tilt up the corners of our mouths at the fact that she's not dead. She sits up and we realize the full extent of her injuries, looking her from head to toe. She's still covered in dried mud, one of her eyes is swollen shut, a six inch gash that is now bleeding dominates her arm, and her broken hand looks even more mangled than the first time.

She tries to get to her feet and we both help her, draping each of her arms over our shoulders. Police sirens start sounding in the distance, and Jo practically collapses in our arms as she tries to walk.

"It's alright, we got you." Lacey assures her. The police slide open the door to the semi before we get the chance and Mr. Masterson holds his gun up only to look from us to my father's body and lower it slowly.

"Jo!" He calls out, taking her from us and cradling her even though she's a fully grown teenager.

"H-hey Dad." She mutters. Tears of happiness leak from everyone's eyes as we all join Jo in an ambulance. Jo refuses to lie down, instead she sits up and chatters nonsense with us because of the drugs she's immediately put on. Medics try to check out Lacey and I, and they only agree to leave us alone and give Jo more help after we promise to get full scale check-ups at the hospital once everything has calmed down.

"Is my hair b-brown? I th-thought I was b-blonde." Jo says, giggling as she holds a strand out in front of her face.

"You have never been good on drugs." I laugh, rubbing her arm comfortingly. Her dad gives me a dirty look as if he's asking what kind of drugs she's been on, and I just laugh. Everything's only going to get better from now, Vikram is no longer a threat and bullies at school seem like just a minuscule problem now. I think at this point we can handle anything as long as the three of us are together; Lacey, Jo, and I.


End file.
